Ulekleiv has long been modestly placed in the field and not in contention for the sprint points that have been awarded along the way. A few laps before the finish he took the lead and increased the speed. He did not give up first place and finished first. He gave up 60 runs and the round winner.
The Belgian Bart Swings followed closely. Among the eight who qualified from the heat was also skating legend Sven Kramer, who is in his very last Olympic competition.
In the second semi, Japan’s Ryosuke Tsuchiya and Canada’s Jordan Belchos left the field early and earned enough sprint points to secure last place.
Kongshaug was in the battle for position when the peloton took the lead and passed, but on a turn a few laps before the goal he made a mistake and found himself in the pads. Thus, there will be only one Norwegian in the final.
– I’m not sure what happened, but I’m fine and I can’t wait to see Kristian in the final. He did it perfectly in his semi-final, Kongshaug told Discovery.
– I would like to be part of the first steps. It would suit me much better. Suddenly, there were only five or six spots left to fight for, and there were plenty of good ones on the field. I go there with somewhat long reins for which there is really no place in a common departure. “Right now, I’m not quite adept at it,” he said.
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